Uzbek AIDS Advocate Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Writing HIV Brochure

Maxim Popov, an HIV/AIDS advocate in Uzbekistan, was "sentenced to seven years in prison" for creating a brochure that authorities said would promote antisocial behavior, his colleagues said on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports. The brochure, aimed at raising HIV/AIDS awareness in the country, was funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and UNICEF. "Prosecutors argued that the brochure, which called for the use of condoms during sex and sterile needles when injecting drugs, was promoting immoral behaviour, [an advocate who worked with him] said" (2/25).

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